My latest flavour obsession is Gochujang, a fermented soybean and chile pepper paste, and one of the building blocks of Korean cuisine. It’s salty and spicy with a hint of sweetness, and to use an in vogue culinary term, it’s packed with umami. I have never been to Korea and I’m not good with spice, nonetheless, this stuff is my obsession!

Routing through the freezer, I uncovered a shoulder of pork bought dear knows when. I have previously featured two pulled pork recipes on my blog, a Jamie Oliver Southern Style Pulled Pork which is my go to, and the slightly more random Irn Bru Pulled Pork. I wanted to do something a bit different, so when I then discovered a tub of Gochujang at the back of my fridge, I decided something Korean was the way to go (and maybe I need to eat more food in my fridge and freezer!)

This is such a simple dish to make, I used a slow cooker but would equally work as well using a cast iron casserole dish in an oven. Low and slow definitely is a winner in my book. Now, you do need to start to make this in the morning. You could marinade the pork overnight if you wanted a deeper or more intense flavour, or do as I did and just let it cook slowly for nearly 10 hours.

Korean Gochujang Pulled Pork (Serves 6)

Ingredients

2Kg Pork Shoulder
100g Gochujang (or more if you want it spicier!)
150g Stock (Veg or Chicken)
75g Soy Sauce
50g Honey

Method

• Mix the Gochujang, Stock, Soy Sauce and Honey in bowl and stir until well mixed.
• There is no need to add extra salt and pepper at this stage as the Gochujang provides both of those
• Either marinade the Pork overnight in the sauce and place into the slow cooker OR place the pork in the slow cooker and pour of the sauce, making sure its well covered.

• I did not remove the fat from the Pork at this stage, it helps with the flavour.
• Cook the pork for around 10 hours on a low heat or until the pork breaks up easily.
• If cooking in the oven, preheat the oven to 150C/130C/Gas 2 and cook for between 8-10 hours until the pork breaks up easily.
• Once ready, remove the pork from the slow cooker and place on a large plate or tray, remove carefully the fat. Now you need to shred the pork using a fork.

• Take the cooking liquid and place in a pot, bring to a boil and then simmer for around 20 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove as much fat as possible.
• Put the pork in a serving dish and pour over the reduced liquid to coat (not drown!) the pork.
• Sprinkle with coriander and voila, you are ready to serve!

For serving, this could be served as bowl food with some Rice, Cucumber and some Kimchi for a simple meal, or as I like to serve it in a lightly toasted Brioche Bun with a generous helping of Kimchi, this is not a pretty picture but boy is it tasty!

Have you ever tried Gochujang? Do you have any favorite Gochujang recipes I should try?